Former judge to appeal state ruling

Panel's call to remove Family Court's Abramson comes after he resigned

By LEIGH HORNBECK Staff writer

Published 12:20 pm, Friday, November 5, 2010

ALBANY -- The state Commission on Judicial Conduct has called for the removal of a Saratoga Family Court Judge, even after the judge stepped down voluntarily.

Gilbert Abramson resigned in September, near the end of a 10-year term. He served the last two years under a cloud of suspicion while commission members reviewed his cases. The commission found Abramson repeatedly sent people to jail without the benefit of a lawyer or a hearing. A 36-page report also describes two separate occasions when the judge made "egregious and inexcusable" comments of a sexual nature to a woman in his courtroom because of the design on the T-shirt she was wearing.

Abramson's lawyer, Robert Roche, said the due process charges were nonsense, and the inappropriate comments were meant to be a joke to distract the woman from her troubles, a joke that fell flat and which Abramson regrets.

Roche said Abramson will appeal the commission's ruling because his client had come to an agreement with commission attorney Robert Tembeckjian to resign from his judgeship in exchange for the commission not releasing the details of its ruling. This would have saved Abramson some embarrassment.

Tembeckjian, however, said he advises, but does not speak for the 11-member commission, which rejected the agreement without explanation.

Tembeckjian said he can only infer the commission released its full determination because the charges were so serious and they thought there would be public benefit from revealing the full report.

"I entered into the stipulation, where the judge resigned and agreed never to return, because I thought it was a more discreet way of dealing with a sensational subject that might unfairly taint the entire court system, while achieving the same result as a removal. The Commission rejected the stipulation, issued its decision, and now we move on. If the judge and his lawyer appeal, my office will respond, on the merits, in the Court of Appeals," Tembeckjian said.

Roche said Abramson's appeal will not be an attempt to be reinstated, but to set the record straight. Abramson has 30 days from Oct. 29 to appeal the commission's decision.

By law, the commission may admonish, censure or remove a judge. If a judge is removed, he or she can never serve as a judge again. The ruling does not affect Abramson's ability to collect pension and retirement benefits. The ruling does not mean that any of the cases Abramson presided over will get a new hearing.

More Information

The bulk of the determination has to do with Abramson's failure to advise the litigants before him of their right to a lawyer and their right to a hearing. In four different cases, the men involved served jail time, ranging from 21 days to 268 days in jail.

Roche explained Abramson's actions in one case. Roche said Abramson put a man in jail because there were no transcripts from another court where the litigant had appeared that would show he didn't belong in jail. According to Roche, Abramson had the man freed once the transcripts arrived.

Protecting kids was Abramson's motivation, Roche said, and he threatened to throw deadbeat parents in jail if they didn't pay child support.

"As far as I'm considered, that is what the law is there for," Roche said.

Roche described Abramson as a soft-hearted guy who put out candy for children in his courtroom and offered stuffed animals to scared children.

"He's not a bad guy," Roche said. "Did he make mistakes, yes. He wanted to protect children."

But a growing chorus of people who feel they were wronged in Abramson's courtroom say otherwise.

Ken Rohling, a Troy man who had dealings with Abramson on child support and custody issues, said the commission's ruling "barely scratches the surface" of all that was wrong in Abramson's court.

"They're not accountable to anyone," Rohling said. "I was told, 'if you don't like (the ruling) appeal it,' when the judge knew appeals cost thousands of dollars that most of the people before him couldn't afford."

Leigh Hornbeck can be reached at 454-5352 or by e-mail at lhornbeck@timesunion.com.